- According to the Finance Bill, 2022, all products containing nicotine, except medical products, now attract a higher tax of Sh2,500 per kilogramme.
- WHO’s Global Nicotine Reduction Strategy says nicotine addiction induces permanent changes to the brain during adolescence.
Image: MAGDALINE SAYA
Health experts and advocates have pleaded with MPs to retain or even increase the proposed taxes on nicotine and cigarettes.
According to the Finance Bill, 2022, all products containing nicotine, except medical products, now attract a higher tax of Sh2,500 per kilogramme, up from the Sh1,200 per kilogramme.
Experts say nicotine addiction is one of the fastest-growing public health crisis in Kenya, and one way of controlling it is through improved tax administration and stricter enforcement.
In the Bill, the previously untaxed electronic cigarettes and other nicotine delivery devices now attract 40 per cent tax while liquid nicotine for electronic cigarettes attract a Sh70 levy per millilitre.
Tobacco Control and Health Promotion Alliance national chairman Joel Gitali on Wednesday predicted the tobacco industry, which sells most nicotine products in Kenya, will try to lobby MPs to reduce the tax.
“We see a barrier ahead. We ask Parliament not to do what they did last time (2021) by lowering proposed taxes. Parliament should even increase the amount and come up with more measures," Gitali told journalists.
"It should not try to please the tobacco industry. If it wants to make any changes, it must consult the Ministry of Health.”
Kenya is a signatory to the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the world’s only health treaty, which calls for regular tax increases to fight tobacco and related products.
Gitali praised Treasury CS Ukur Yatani, saying the government appears to have listened to health advocates to stop the growing threat of nicotine addiction in children and youths.
“These dangerous nicotine products are accessible to minors which means the rate at which young people are recruited into drug abuse is high," Gitali said.
"It is our belief this budget will reduce the harmful consumption of these products. Taxation is going to assist young people because taxation is the leading way to reduce the demand for nicotine.”
Apart from the traditional cigarettes, the other highly-addictive nicotine delivery products being sold in Kenya include pouches (such as velo and lyft), electronic cigarettes, vaping devices, vaporisers, hookah pens, electronic cigarettes and e-pipes.
According to the WHO’s Global Nicotine Reduction Strategy, nicotine addiction induces permanent changes to the brain during adolescence.
The addiction also leaves teens with an increased risk of addiction to substances such as cannabis, heroin and cocaine.
Nicotine intake by a pregnant woman can also affect a developing baby's brain and lungs, according to WHO.
There is also scientific evidence illustrating that nicotine can facilitate a tumour-supporting environment and can harm a person’s DNA, leading to cancer.
Tobacco Control and Health Promotion Alliance national coordinator Thomas Lindi said the increase in liquid nicotine tax was a result of intense lobbying by civil society.
“We still urge for more tax on these products. All consumers should be helped so that they quit,” Lindi said.
The International Institute for Legislative Affairs also praised the increase in taxes on conventional cigarettes.
“This tax is a good indication the government is seeing the need to reduce consumption of nicotine products because of the growing addiction among youths and children," International Institute for Legislative Affairs CEO Celine Awuor said.
"We emphasise these innovative products in the tobacco market target young people and children. We need all measures to reduce consumption and prevent initiation. This process should become progressive.”
IILA is a Nairobi-based non-profit that works closely with policymaking institutions, government, MPs and other stakeholders to draft and advocate pro-people policies and legislation.
Cigarette with filters will now be taxed at Sh3,825 per mille (one thousand sticks), up from Sh3,447.61 per mille.
Cigarettes without filters now attract Sh2,752 tax per mille compared to Sh 2,502.
Tax on other manufactured tobacco and manufactured tobacco substitutes, 'homogenous' and 'reconstituted tobacco' and tobacco extracts and essences' was raised from Sh9,734.45 per kil0gramme to Sh10,707.88 per Kg.
Awuor said these raises were probably only meant to take care of inflation. She asked MPs to hike the taxes further.
About 2.5 million Kenyans smoke cigarettes every year, and about 9,000 smokers are killed by diseases such as cancer and stroke caused by smoking.
(edited by Amol Awuor)